On Thursday, September 20, LPLers were treated to an extraordinary site: the Space Shuttle Endeavour, piggy-backed on a 747 aircraft, soaring over the Kuiper building and the UA mall as it made its way from Houston to a permament retirement home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Spectators across Tucson, and especially those atop and in front of the Kuiper Building, were thrilled to see Endeavour at 1,500 feet above ground level.

Endeavour flew over Tucson at the request of her last commander, astronaut Mark Kelly, in honor of Kelly's wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Kelly and Giffords watched the fly-over from the UA mall.